


Super Villain Parenting

by SolNiveAngelo (Mogadorian_Wolf)



Series: Queering Cape High [1]
Category: Cape High Series - R.J. Ross
Genre: Bi Jack, Bi Zoe, Gen, Lesbian Marge, Neopronouns, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Superheroes, Supervillains, accidental misgendering, gay Harold, nonbinary Mastermental, nonbinary Nico Masters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29490063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mogadorian_Wolf/pseuds/SolNiveAngelo
Summary: Welcome to a world where Nico was raised by Mastermental, where Zoe's determined to get her and her brother a super parent, where Max just wants to make friends, and Trent thinks maybe he can have friends how understand him. Cape High starts here, with four teens looking for community and a newly released super villain.
Relationships: Nico & Mastermental, Sunny & Zoe
Series: Queering Cape High [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166099
Kudos: 1





	1. Enter Super Villain Stage Right

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rewriting the series and making all the characters queer in some aspect and fixing the parts that annoyed me (like those aliens) and exploring Nico's relationship with the Hall if Mastermental raised him after he threw Sparky out (I've got a little prequel being written about that).  
> Also the chapters will be shorter than the original and more of them.

“Stop breathing!” I hiss to my twin brother, Sunny.

“I can’t stop breathing. If I stop breathing, I’ll die,” he says dryly. “And you’re the one doing the talking. You’re going to get us caught.”

Look, normally I like my brother just fine, but right now every sound grates on my nerves, even the grass rubbing on my arm makes me want to tear it out and set it on fire. So why are we here, trying to hide in the middle of the day? Well you see that guy—the one on the other fence that’s charged with so much electricity it’s shaking. Yeah, the one with the white streak in his black hair. He’s why we’re here.

We—well Sunny would say it’s just me—think he’s our dad. Why is he in that orange jumpsuit? Well, that’s because he’s a super villain. Technico, a technopath who’s been here since before we born because he created death canyon. I’m sure he’s our dad. And I’m getting us a parent by the end of the week—a super parent. Him being a super villain in prison is only a slight hitch in my plan. Just don’t tell Sunny that part.

He’s looking out here toward us. “Do you think he can hear us?” I whisper, horror creeping through me. Our reconnaissance might already be compromised.

“I can do more than breathing now?” Sunny asks dryly.

Technico snorts a half laugh. “If you’re talking about me, I can hear you just fine. You kids might want to get a move on it before the guards decide to check out who tripped the silent alarm.” He paused, and we just stared at him blankly. “I was serious about that, but if you want a more dramatic scene…”

Sirens wail so loud it almost hurt. I clamp my hands over my ears, my heart pounding in my chest. Sunny grabs my hand and pulls me in a run behind him. I, uh… didn’t know we could go to the fast.

Behind us, I think I hear more voices, but I’m not paying attention to that. What even was that? You say that, right? He turned on sirens to get us to run.

Nico watches the kids race away at super speed. Definitely super kids. Watching Nico it sounded like. They wouldn’t have been old enough to have any memory of Nico. So how did they find out about zir and why did they come all this way to look at zir? Something about the way they looked tugged at the back of Nico’s mind.

“What was that about?” Harold, the ex-Hall member guarding Nico, asks as he steps out into the yard staring after the kids. They would be just coming into their full powers, wouldn’t they? Nico was just learning to fly at their age. It seems like more of a Mastermental problem than something ze needed to think too much about.

“Just something I need to talk to Mastermental about.”

Harold snorts. “I was talking about the lights. You know they could push back your sentence for tapping into the systems again. Besides, you’re not supposed to receive calls.”

“Honestly Harold, we both know how that arguments end.” Nico grins at him and saunters back toward the prison. “I’m bored of being outside.”

“Fine. I’ll let Mastemental know you summoned them about some kids staring at you. Should I do that before or after your trial tomorrow? Are you even ready for it?”

“I love your sense of humor, Harry.” Nico looks serious for a moment. “They’ll be here soon. Let them know when they get here. And don’t worry about the trial, I’ve got the questions memorized,” Nico dismisses.

“It’s not the questions I’m worried about,” he mutters.

“The answers are easy enough. Don’t you trust me, Harry?”

They stop by Nico’s cell, and Harold sighs. “You keep changing the channel to the Bachelor’s since I told you that my husband can’t stop watching it.”

“I didn’t want you to miss out. You’ll always be my favorite, Harry.” Nico says as Harold closes the door, shaking his head and muttering: “I swear you’ve been flirting with me since you found out my husband is trans.”

Nico’s laughter follows him. Harold shakes his head.” I can’t wait to get you out of my hair.”

“What hair? You’re bald, Harry?”

Harold’s curses fade a little, and Nico takes the moment to pull a little disk and tosses it on to the ground. A beautiful red hair woman appears, smiling at zir. “I love you, Nico.”

“Love you too, Summer.”

The image disappears. Nico tilts zir head. The kids had a white streak in their black hair. “No. It couldn’t be.” Somebody would’ve told zir, wouldn’t they?

Oh god, we’re going to die! Do you see anyone coming after us? You’d tell me if you did, right? Do you think he was making up that we’d tripped a silent alarm?

Sunny drags me into a Hyvee and into the middle of an empty aisle toward the back. He slumps down in front of a display of cans and lets out a sigh. “I don’t see it.”

“See what?”

“The resemblance. I don’t think you’re right Zoe. We can’t be related to that guy.” Like I said, Sunny doesn’t agree with my theory.

“Sunny, he had a white steak in his hair. Just like yours. How many supers have you seen with a streak like that?”

Sunny shoves his streak aside in a self conscience move. He’s always getting asked about it and treated like it’s an aesthetic choice. I’ve got a white streak too. Luckily it’s underneath. Yeah, we have tried dyeing it. It just comes back whenever we use out powers.

You heard me right. Powers. As in multiple. We’re not both technopaths. It’s not anything cool either. Last time I tried turning on the TV it exploded. Literally. There were all these cool codes flashing over the screen for five seconds before BOOM! Exploding TV. Stop laughing! It wasn’t funny. I was really looking forward to watching—okay, fine, maybe it’s a little funny.

Plants try to keep Sunny if he gets too close. He’ll be walking down a path and all of a sudden a dandelion’s wrapped around his ankle, and he’s face-planted on the ground. No, I didn’t laugh. Okay, maybe a little. But he threatened to have a dandelion wrap me up for it. So keep it a secret! And don’t give him roses.

So you can see why the hair dye didn’t work? We’re fourteen. We can’t get that kind of money.

“Fine. But you’ve read some of what he’s done-“ Sunny was kind enough to print it out for me. I have an entire folder of information I’ve gathered about Technico. My roommate thinks I have a serious crush. “He’s not good parenting material.”

“So what you’re chickening out about it?” I put my hands on my hips and glare at him.

“This is all your plan! You could’ve gotten us caught. We’re not normal kids-“

“Exactly! We’re not normal kids. We’re supers—“

A woman gives us a wide eyed look and pushes her cart slowly away from us. We watch her disappear, and I grab Sunny’s arm pulling him along.

“Good going. Want me to grab a mic and announce it to the rest of the store. It would be faster,” Sunny says, rolling his eyes.

“Have you seen another super with my powers? He’s it, Sunny! He’s got to be our dad,” I hiss, stopping at a new empty section.

He pulls his arm away from me. “And what about my powers, Zoe? Our mom was a norm. I couldn’t have gotten them from her, and Technico doesn’t have that kind of power. Maybe we got our powers the same way.”

“What do you remember stumbling into some super creating accident? Do you remember being experimented on?” I snap back. I’m right, I know I am.

“Fine. Say he’s our dad, then what? He’s in Cape Cells. What is he going to get time off for good behavior?”

“I’m working on it!” I snap. Don’t side with him. I have a plan. I do. It’s just…. A little…. Fuzzy at the moment.

Sunny shakes his head. “He can’t help us, Zoe. Our best bet is the Hall. They probably deal with this all the time.”

Sunny stalks off, leaving me to run after him. It’s nothing like before. I’m getting Technico out of the Cape Cells. He’s got to care about us; he warned us about guards coming, right? You know he does. It’s why you left us for a bit, right?

The email draws his attention right away. He listens as his dad leaves the house with a brief call about having a work emergency. The door closes, and only after he’s sure his dad has left does he open the email. His breath catches in his chest as he reads.

He reads it again.

He’s not alone. Logically, he knew he wasn’t, but he’s never actually _met_ anyone like him before. His dad won’t be back for a while. Probably. It doesn’t matter. He’s going to meet them. He’s going to make friends. It can’t be that hard; it happens all the time on T.V. shows. **  
**


	2. Whoops, Wrong Media

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm obsessed with this. I'm already working on a prequel and one-shot that should be up this week.

The kids leave Hy-vee and trek away from the Cape Cells, unaware of the super watching. The boy’s resemblance to Nico is uncanny, especially when ze was the same age.

They make a call as they watch the kids disappear back to their foster home.

“I just saw them checking in on Technico. We’ll need to send someone in to keep an eye on them…. I’m already working on the paperwork…. Ze’ll do it. I know zir… Good. I’ll send you a picture of them…. If it continues to be problem I’ll deal with it.”

They hang up, and fly back to Cape Cells.

Harold meets them outside with a scowl. “Your favorite’s requested a meeting.”

“I don’t have favorites,” Mastermental tells him with a smile. “If it’s about the children, tell zir that I’m already looking into it. I can’t be accused of such favoritism before zir trial.”

Harold snorts. “You treat Nico like your kid. If you haven’t been accused of favoritism yet, I don’t think you’ll have a problem.”

Mastermental gives him a look. “For this, I think it’s important that we wait for tomorrow. I’ll talk with zir after the trial. Now, did you notice anything about the kids?”

The foster home we live in is awful. There’s so many kids it could be a reality show, and they all hate us. Okay, mostly me—Sunny’s my built in ally; he understands why I keep grouping us together—I can’t blame them too much. That T.V. I blew up? It was the only T.V. at the foster home. You don’t make many friends when you blow up their T.V.

“I think I’d rather be tossed into the Cape Cells,” I whisper to Sunny. At least there I could put my get-a-super-parent-plan into action.

“I know,” he says softly. “But we’ve got computer time in ten minutes and I want to see if the Hall ever replied to our email.” See, he’s grouping us together. They don’t let _me_ have computer time. I already blew up the T.V. no need to risk the computer as well, even if it is older than dirt.

“Maybe they deleted it,” I grumble, following him in. “They probably have tons of emails of kids saying they have abilities. ‘Look, I’m just like Mega—I can do a pushup!’” I mime doing a push up against the wall.

Sunny gives me a look. “I went along with your prison scheme. You can go along with this.”

“I’m not stopping you! I’m just pessimistically complaining.”

We ignore the kids lounging on the front room’s couch playing what looks like and intense game of Monopoly. The computer’s in the back in the office.

“And I’ll take all of this,” Jack one of the older says, scooping up all of the fake money from another kid. Jack’s got every piercing I’ve ever seen, and it’s rumored that he has tattoos though I haven’t seen them (I’m not looking that hard). He smokes, shoves younger kids heads into toilets, and is an all around bully.

“Hey! That’s cheating!”

“Yeah? What are you going to do about it?”

I glare at Jack, starting toward him, only to be stopped by Sunny’s hand. “Computer time. Then you can go pick a fight with Jack.”

“But he took that kid’s money!” I hiss going along with him.

“Fake money. And Marge can take care of it.” Marge’s our stay-at-home foster mom. She’s a happily-married lesbian, and I sometimes wonder if I’ll end up in a relationship like that. I’m bi. Marge’s a great foster mom about it. She’s amazing. Jack? Not so much.

“I hate him,” I mutter moving to flop on the couch in the corner of the office.

“I know, I know,” Sunny says, carefully sitting in the creaky, old computer chair.

He types in this one handed slow way that drives me nuts. Before I started blowing stuff up, I was really good with computers and T.V.s and tech in general. That’s why I need to get Technico out. He can probably do something so I can at least get on the computer again, check on my virtual pets, do my own research…. Breaking him out isn’t an option, but what if I can provide enough distraction for him to break himself out? Everyone knows that super villains escape all the time.

“Hey Zoe, I’ve got an email,” Sunny says surprised. I’m already in the middle of a half-decent plan to distract the guards, but I turn my attention to Sunny. No focusing on the computer.

“Don’t just stare at it! Read it!” I fight the urge to go read over his shoulder. If I blow up the computer, there’s a chance we won’t be getting a computer ever, if the T.V.’s any indication. I turn away from the computer.

“Give me a sec—“ The mouse clicks a couple times and he stops. “It’s our email to the Hall… but it’s not the Hall responding. It looks like someone caught our email before it got to them.”

“What? Who? People can DO that?” I pace behind him. It’s a battle of wills to not rush to look at the computer screen and see it for myself.

“It looks like they can,” he says dryly. “I’m not sure this is a good thing,” he continues worried. Sunny doesn’t usually do worried; he’s too relaxed for it.

“Who is it? I can’t look at the computer, Sunny!”

“I’m getting there. He introduces himself in the email,” he says and starts to finally read it out loud. “Hello, Sunny and Zoe. I’m interested in meeting you. My name is Max—but you might know me better as Maximum. I’m a teenage super just like you.”

“Maximum…” It take a moment for recognition to kick in. “No! You’re kidding, right? Why is a teenage super villain reading our emails to the Hall?”

“I don’t know, Zoe. Let me finish reading. ‘I know you’re waiting for the Hall, but the Hall won’t reply to this. They think it’s a joke. I know better. I’d like to meet you both. I’ll be waiting at Kindle Park tomorrow at four in a red Mastermental T-shirt.’”

“Kindle? That’s just two blocks from here. He knows where we live?” Maximum might be seventeen or eighteen, but he’s dangerous. He’s got gravity powers and control of them. His first caper was at the super bowl last year, when he lifted two full buses over the stadium and still had both hands free to talk on the mic. He was stopped—but barely, and hasn’t been captured.

“I… I think he might,” Sunny says quietly.

“What’s he going to do with us? I mean we’re like prospective enemies or rivals or something, right?” My mind starts whirling through all the potential scenarios.

He could kill us. We’re not that strong. What could we do? Blow up his smart phone, trip on a dandelion. Maybe, he’ll kidnap us. He would almost definitely try and stop me from breaking Technico out. He’s the top villain; he wouldn’t want competition from a villain that’s been caught. Or maybe he’d do a whole villain league. Yeah… I can see that.

“I don’t know. What if we go to the Hall? Their email was hacked, right? They’ve got to listen to us if we start with that,” Sunny suggest.

“Yes! Print it out,” I tell him.

Sunny goes so pale he looks like he’s going to faint. “It—it’s not there anymore. The email disappeared.”

“What do you mean it disappeared? You just read it to me!”

“I don’t know. I just pushed the print button and the email disappeared! It says ‘this post could not be found.’ I’ll check the other folders… No. No. No, no, no, no. It’s gone. I can’t find it.”

“It can’t be!” I almost shove him out of the way to look. Code starts flashing on the scene.

Sunny tackles me to the ground. “Not the computer.”

I tense, waiting for it to explode, and the oncoming groan and new wave of hatred. It doesn’t come. I breathe out a sigh of relief. Sunny stares at me. After a moment, he gets up and offers me a hand. “The Hall isn’t going to listen if we don’t have proof, are they?”

I shake my head. “What if…. What if we asked… _him_ to help?”

“Max?”

“Technico. He’s a bigger badder super villain, right? And we’re his kids—“

“You think we are,” Sunny interrupts.

I glare at him. You’re on my side about this, right? “He warned us about the silent alarm. Maybe he could help with this situation. Maybe he’d believe us.”

Sunny sighs and sank down on the couch. “He’s still in Cape Cells. What are we going to do? Break him out?”

I tilt my head. “Well… I have a plan that might work.”

He stares at me. “I was being sarcastic, Zoe! We can’t break out a super villain.” He rubs his temple. I could probably convince Maximum to do it. “Okay. Whatever. Pack your bags. We’ll leave tonight. Last thing we need is for Maximum to crash here.”

I pause. Think about it. Jack has at least three Maximum shirts. He’d be a good distraction if Maximum didn’t want to break out a super villain to form a super villain league.

“Zoe!” Sunny snaps.

“What? They could make a good distraction. Okay, so maybe not all of them. We could just toss one at him.”

“We’re not throwing Jack at Maximum, even if he might thank you.” He shakes his head and leans back against the couch. “Let’s just pack our things and leave.”


	3. Just Roll with Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a one-shot before this chapter that adds to the story (it's next in the series)

It’s dinner time when I’m packed. It didn’t take me long to pack; dinner just wasn’t that far away. I wonder if part of Sunny’s plan was to stall me with dinner, but I can’t question him with everyone watching us so closely. They already think I’m weird enough. What would Marge even think if she knew our dad was a super villain? Or if she knew we were planning on running off tonight? We could get thrown in jail like Technico! The Hall probably wouldn’t be too lenient on super villain kids breaking out their dad. This is a bad idea.

“Zoe!” I snap to attention as Marge stares at me expectantly. Did you catch what she wanted? “I asked you to pass the salt three times, already. Is everything okay?”

I pass her the salt. “I’m fine. Just thinking.”

Jack snorts. “That’s got to be first.”

I’m this close to launching myself at him when Sunny clears his throat. “She’s got… uh… boy troubles. It’s nothing big. We’re taking care of it.”

Marge raises an eyebrow and her wife, April looks up curiously. “What kind of boy troubles?”

“She’s got a crush some old washed out super villain, Technico,” Gina cuts in. “She’s got every article about him, in a box under her bed. He’s old enough to be her dad.” I’m going to kill my roommate. Don’t look at me like that. It’s easier to get information about our possible dad if I could actually get on a computer to look him up. Blowing up computers puts a bit of a damper on that. So I did the next best thing. Gina’s just getting weird ideas about it.

“Really?” Marge looks intrigued and like she knows something. “Isn’t that—“

“Can I be excused?” I cut in a little too loud. Everyone’s staring at me now. Nope. I’m out of here. I storm out of the room and throw myself at my bed. Stupid Gina.

“I’ll talk to her,” I hear Sunny say before he catches in my shared room. “How long have you had the box?”

“Since Super Awareness week. The librarians were very helpful for my school project about super history.” I flash him my innocent eyes. He looks less than impress and then kneels in front of my bed. And pulls out the box.

He goes through it slowly. I’d only shown him what was available from the Technico chapter during Super Awareness week at school. Do you think Maximum’s got a file like that on us? It’s kind of creepy to think about.

“How do you think he did it?” I ask.

“Create Death Canyon? You’re the one that’s down all the research.”

“Not Technico. Maximum how’d he delete that email. It’s got nothing to do with gravity.”

“He’s a hacker or something. I don’t know. Super villains are supposed to be smart, right?”

I snort. “Yeah. They say that super villains are a lot smarter than the heroes. Do you think we’re going to end up being super villains?”

Sunny stares at me. “You’re planning on breaking out a super villain. They’ll think we’re villains if we go through with your idea.” He pauses. “They always get caught, right? Super villains can’t be that smart.”

“Brute force. It’s how they caught him. They sent half the Hall after him.”

I stare at the annoying poster of teenage heartthrob Justin on Gina’s side. If I had darts, I might practice with that poster. Maybe I am a super villain. Mom would be disappointed. Probably. She dated one… so maybe she wouldn’t be too upset. Yeah, that sounds like a nice ex story. Like: don’t worry, my ex was a super villain.

Sunny slides the box back under my bed and moves to sit beside me on the bed, staring at the poster as well. “I think we should go to the Hall first. We wouldn’t be breaking the law, and it’s their job to keep citizens safe, right?”

Yeah, I know that I was just thinking that my plan might be a bad idea, but I don’t want to admit that to Sunny. I don’t want to give up on Technico. Maybe I would have better luck with trying to find a super parent at the Hall.

“Fine. We’ll go there first.” And I’ll do some super parent shopping while Sunny fills them in on our position. Don’t look at me. I’m not getting side tracked on my mission.

“Then we just wait for everyone to go to sleep,” Sunny says, before bolting up. “Do you think the Hall has hours?”

“For civilians? Definitely. Maybe we should leave now.” And time it to be there when we can see the most supers. More supers, more choices. I’m not giving up on Technico, completely; I’m just exploring other options.

Sunny nods. “Who do you think supers date? Clearly they have kids, right? Because I don’t remember being bitten by a radioactive plant, and I know you weren’t bitten by a computer. So either we were experimented on and don’t remember it, or we inherited it—like you’ve been saying. So who do they date?”

“Our mom. They date our mom.”

Sunny gives me a look. “That’s got to be the worst joke I’ve heard.”

I shrug. “It happened.” My throat feels tight just thinking about Mom. She disappeared a year ago. We haven’t heard anything from her, not a letter, not a phone call, nothing. It’s like she disappeared off the face of the earth. I think they’ve closed the missing person file on her. “Do you think we’ll ever see her again?”

Sunny wraps an arm around my shoulders as I lay my head on him. “I don’t know.”

We settle in the silence. How did Mom meet Technico? Were they a serious thing? How does super dating work? “Do you think they have a supers dating site?”

Sunny considered. “Maybe. Maybe they just date other supers so they don’t have to worry about their secret identity. Do you think I could get a boyfriend?”

“I’m sure there’s some super that would date you. We’re not the only teenage supers.”

“I’m not dating Maximum.”

I laugh. “You might be cute together.”

He makes a face. “I’m getting my bag. I’ll meet you outside, before you decide to set me up with a super villain for my first boyfriend.”

He practically storms off, and I can hear him go into the room he’s unfortunately sharing with Jack, though Sunny maintains that Jack’s not the worst. I can hear everyone in the house; I’m pretty sure it’s because of my newfound powers. Like: look ma, I can hear like a dog! Okay, you’re right. It’s a little cool.

I grab my bag by the window and drop out. Not everyone’s asleep, but it’s probably fine—

“Where are you going?”

I jerk at the voice and whirl to face Jack as he steps out of the shadow of the nearest tree. A cigarette hangs in his mouth.

“It’s none of your business, Jack. Go away,” I hiss. He’s probably going to alert Marge. For being a delinquent he’s always so quick to tattle when one of us is up to something.

He scowls, but before he can say anything, Sunny drops out the window almost on top of Jack. Jack stumbles back with a brief curse. Sunny flashes him a grin before grabbing my elbow. “Let’s go. He’s not going to say anything. He was sneaking out to meet his ex from juvie again.”

Jack flushes. “Shut up. I told that you in confidentiality, not so you could use it against me. So you’re weird skunk face wouldn’t be mopping about after being rejected. How did you even know I was meeting him tonight?”

I have no idea what’s going on, but it’s excellent drama. I didn’t even know Jack had an ex-boyfriend, but I love watching Sunny get under his skin.

“We’re supers. And you always meet up with him after dinner.” Sunny steps right up to him. Jack’s over a foot taller than him. “And if you don’t let us go, Zoe’s going to try her hand at matchmaking, and you don’t want that,” Sunny warns him.

I would not be that bad at matchmaking.

Jack steps aside, whole body tense, and we walk past him. When we’re far enough away, I whisper, “What this about Jack’s ex?”

“Jack has a lot of exes. He was trying to provide some gay advice. I’m not spilling all the details.”

“Is he?”

“Gay? I think he’s bi? He hasn’t specified.” Sunny pauses. “I think he’d be a little better if he dropped his ex. Like I said, I don’t think he’s the worst. He’s just…” He waves vaguely.

I frown. “You don’t _like_ him, do you?”

Sunny blushes. “No! But Jack’s like the closest Marge I’ve got. He’s been in a lot of homes. I think he’s been in the system since he was a little kid.”

You don’t think—no. Eww. Sunny can’t have a crush on Jack. I’m freaked out at the idea of him even looking up to him. Jack is a terrible role model—Technico is different. He just is. Shut up. Look, super villains are different than Jack. I’m telling the story here; you’ve got to believe me. Hmmph.

“Think we can afford to take the bus?” I ask. The Hall’s in the city, which is a good three hour walk from here.

“Not if we want to eat tomorrow,” Sunny says. He’s in charge of the money because apparently blowing things up take too much money. No, I’m not being sarcastic. People keep expecting me to pay for their smart phones when I blow them up.

“But a bus fair’s only like a couple of bucks?”

“So’s a cheeseburger.”

“You’re not any better at saving than me.”

What? You think we can run there. Have you tried running three miles? Being super doesn’t automatically mean I can run that far on an empty stomach. I’m really regretting skipping most of dinner.

A chill presses against my skin, and I shove my hands deeper into my pockets. The highway looms in the distance. It’s the easiest way to get downtown, but I guess it’s also the easiest way to get killed. We’re not super durable or anything. I think. We haven’t really tested. Would you? No, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know.

“I wish we could fly.” We have tested that one. From the ground. We’re going to have travel through the woods—

“It’s a nice ability to have.”


	4. All About that Narrative Tension

That wasn’t Sunny that said that. You heard it, right? I’m not imagining things; Sunny’s looking up. His usual relaxed expression is tensed, and he looks like he’s ready for a fight (which is usually my role) or like he’s preparing to stop me from launching at someone (they’re almost identical expressions. I think. I’ve never actually seen the first one). I’m almost afraid to look—

Stop being so impatient about it. Geez. I’m dragging out the narrative tension. No. No you can’t skip ahead. That’s cheating.

“Now why are you two heading for the highway?”

I look up to see Maximum floating above us like he’s lounging on a sofa, drinking a big gulp slushee. He’s less intimidating than I originally thought. Oh. And he’s cute. Like insta-crush cute. I might have a problem with lots of quick crushes, or at least Sunny seems to think so.

I sneak a peek at my twin brother to see if he’s noticed Maximum’s cuteness. Hey, if he thinks Maximum’s cute maybe he’ll change his mind about me being an excellent matchmaker! No, I’m not trying to hook my brother up with super villain that’s stalking us. But I would date him! You know, if he wasn’t stalking us and driving us out of our home and potentially ruining my epic plan to break our dad out of super prison and raise us.

Maximum lands in front of me, while I’m internally monologueing. Why didn’t you warn me? Oh, now you want to use me being the narrator as an excuse. That’s convenient

“You’re kind of short, aren’t you?” I blurt out. Someone shut me up now. I’ve apparently got no self-preservation. I might as well blurt out that I’m planning on breaking out a super villain, wanna join? NO! I’m being sarcastic! Don’t actually ask him that!

Haha. Yeah, you’re so funny.

“Does it really matter how tall you are when you can fly?” Max says, casually slurping his slushee. He’s studying us like he’s imagining how we’ll fit into his villainous schemes. That’s not what I’m doing. Will you be quiet? I’m trying to focus here.

“What do you want with us?” Sunny demands, grabbing my arm to pull me back. He doesn’t sound like he’s noticed Max is cute. Then again, I don’t think he has that good of taste in boys if he likes _Jack._ Hey, if Sunny’s not interested, maybe I have a chance. Do you think he likes girls? Maximum, just to be clear.

Max is grinning impishly at Sunny. “You’re like me. I want to put together a team.”

“Like a Mini-Hall?” Sunny asks skeptically.

“Not. A super. Hero. Team. A super VILLIAN team. I can help you control your abilities, and then we can take over the world with just a little bit of effort! Or we could just create a tree house for centralized teenage super hang out. I haven’t really decided yet.” He shrugs and takes another drink of his slushee. “You have a better idea?”

“Um…” Sunny looks briefly confused. “Can you give us until tomorrow? We haven’t really thought about it. You were already planning on meeting us, right? So it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Max pulls a book from his suit. Where do you think he hid that? “I don’t think this is supposed to be how it goes.” He pauses and reads a section. “Yeah nope.” And tosses it over his shoulder. You don’t think he’s got this book do you? ‘Cause that’s really cheating. And embarrassing.

“I wish I could believe that you’re going to meet me tomorrow. But there’s a reason you’re heading for the highway, isn’t there?”

Okay, what do you know? Is he narrating to you as well? Are you tattling what we’re doing to him? I’m keeping an eye on you! Don’t think you’ll be slipping out of my sight for a while.

“We’re going to the seven eleven,” I blurt, thinking quick. “We’re going to get some cupcakes. We have to buy our own—they don’t allow sugar in the house.”

Max steps closer to me. “I think you’re lying.” He pauses, and the book he just tossed floats back into his hand. He looks at it. “But this fits much better. Why don’t I go with you? I like cupcakes.”

He tugs his mask off and looks ready to go.

“You can’t go in that,” Sunny points out, gesturing to the black and silver skin-tight uniform Max is wearing.

“Right.” He pulls down a zipper I didn’t even notice and steps out of the uniform to reveal a pair of baggy shorts and a Mastermental tank top. He grins at me. “No one will suspect a super villain wearing super hero clothes.”

I’m going to stop function for a little bit. Can you pick up the slack a bit? Cute boy. Help me. Maybe I can figure out how to get a date? Wait… do you think he would have tips on how to break out a super villain? I can be subtle about it. Just be like, hey future advice how do you break a super villain out of Cape Cells? Maybe that can be our first date. A little unconventional, but I think it’s a perfect super villain date. What? I’m not a supervillain. What gave you that idea?

“Coming?” Max asks. Somehow he’s produced a pair of flip flops. Does he have some pocket dimension storage or something? I really want one! It would be so handy.

“How do you fit that outfit under that thing,” Sunny asks. Wish I’d thought of that. I’m bad at talking to people I’m crushing on, okay!

“Practice,” Max says. He looks excited. Is this going to be his first cupcake? Why are you laughing at me? “I can teach you how to do that. We’ll need a tree house or maybe just a club house.” He pats his pockets, something like panic flashing across his face. “I forgot my wallet.”

“Left it in your other sets of tights?” Sunny drawls, but he looks more interested now. He’s eyeing Max like he’s not what he expected. I wonder if Technico would be anything like this.

“It’s not like I’m going to carry my license around when working. Oh well, I’ll just rob the place,” he decides cheerfully.

“No you won’t! This is the closest place we can get snacks from—and we’re not being accomplices to robbing it. We haven’t even said yes to your super villain league.” Super villain league. Maybe he would want to help break out Technico. Perfect date night. Plus Sunny. Eh, I could probably pull it off without him. He’d probably thank me.

Yes, I know stealing’s wrong, but he’s a super villain. Do you really expect that to matter to him. No, I’m not like him. Having a plan to break out your super villain father is different from robbing a seven eleven for a cupcake. Why would you even compare the two?

“How’d you get that slushee if you don’t have your wallet?” Sunny asks.

“I stole it. There was this kid just coming out of the place with it, and I was thirsty,” Max says straight face and takes another sip from it like he’d forgotten about it until now.

“And he didn’t call the cops on you?” Sunny asks.

“Wouldn’t you call the Hall for a super villain?” I ask confused.

“For stealing his slushee,” Max says with a bland expression.

“You mugged him,” Sunny points out.

“I took his slushee, not his wallet. But now that we’re going on a snack run… wonder how far he’s gotten.” Max looks in the distance like he can see the kid he mugged.

“No,” Sunny cuts in. He’s got a lot of practice in acting like the voice of reason. “We can a share a cupcake.”

“Really? You’re my new best friend,” Max declares and throws an arm around Sunny. Sunny looks like he’s got a headache—wait, what do you know? Tell me! No, don’t walk away. I’m sorry I accused you of tattling

“I can’t believe you meet a super villain and immediately get a crush,” Sunny hisses at me as Max marches ahead. He knows where the seven eleven is? He really does his research.

“What? You don’t think he’s cute? I thought you had thing for bad boys.”

Max looks back at us curiously. Oh shoot. You know how I mentioned my increased hearing? Yeah… I think that might be a super thing, and Sunny just announced my crush to him. My face is going to learn how to spontaneously combust. I elbow Sunny roughly and hiss, “I can’t believe you.”

He almost falls over laughing. Max hangs back for us to catch up. Sunny’s grinning like a loonatic now, and he bumps into Max. “Hey, are you seeing anyone? Asking for a friend.”

“Sunny!” I hiss.

He sticks his tongue out at me. Max watches us curiously with a little smile. “I haven’t met anyone. Are you…?”

“Nope,” Sunny sings. “Do you… get a lot of—you know—fans asking you out?”

Max laughs softly. He sounds almost shy. “They’ve written fanfiction about it. I’ve got a whole club swooning over me. But no one’s asked me to my face.”

I’m staring at Sunny, and he finally notices, flushing. “What? Jack told me that he probably did,” he says defensively.

The Seven-Eleven comes into view, and Max lights up. “I’ll race you.”

He takes off, and I exchange a look with Sunny before following. Max enters the store moments before us: “Everyone put your hands—“

“Max,” Sunny hisses, looking annoyed, wrapping his arms around and pulling him back. “He’s joking, everyone. He’s just got a really stupid sense of humor.”


End file.
